FOR WANT OF OUR KIDS' FUTURE, AND THE BOTTOM LINE...

“Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate”…Anonymous.

Perhaps heartbreaking is the word best used to describe the aura that surrounds our old folks when they think loudly in reminiscence of the so called “good old days”. Back then they said there was less crime, there existed accountability, honesty, virtue, traditional hard work and very importantly respect.

People did not see a reason to be over-ambitious especially to great extents that it leads to the detriment of the less privileged, leaving them to your mercy, and yet you ignore. In recent decades, it seems as if a group of so called self exalting geniuses have finally figured out a short cut to success, with less discerning people forgetting the statutes passed down to us by our fathers, unfortunately the so called “short cut” makes the journey even longer and more infuriatingly frustrating.

Unfortunately though, with just a few decades later and you can easily link one hazard to a series of calculated events to make money especially in ways such that the populace is greatly exploited monetarily and physically, usually in terms of rights.

 

“For in much wisdom is much grief: And he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow”…Ecc1:18

 

It is beyond a stereotype that the world was made and beautifully so by our Omni-Potent God, but the mysteries consistently before our lofty eyes dare us to believe it as less of a fact. In case you run out of crazy and innovative ideas, check out the diverse feature of the animals in the wild kingdom.

Apparently, company’s EPS (Earning Per Share) also known as bottom line which determines a company’s overall profit have come to stay, and inadvertently so are manmade disasters.

For instance, with the advent of industry, London’s population was accustomed to seeing foggy, pollution laden air. In 1952 however, this pollution took a tragic turn. This winter, the weather was cold and the residents burned more coal in their fireplaces to alleviate the chill. The smoke laced with sulfur dioxide, Nitrogen Oxides and soot, and left London encased in black cloud of near total darkness and killed over 12, 000 people.

Also on March 24, 1989, the American oil tanker Exxon Valdez collided with the Bligh reef. This created an oil spill with far reaching consequences in the Prince William sound in Alaska. Over 11 million gallons of oil spilled over nearly 500 miles polluting the coastline. Over a quarter million birds were killed and countless other wildlife. Over 11, 000 people aided in the clean up process.

In Nigeria, many foreign companies have continually infringed upon employee rights, from paying peanuts to inadequate HSE (Health, Safety & Environment), staff maltreatment and casualization of workers. Strangely, the government is not doing anything about it, perhaps due to the popular selfish rush for wealth and material at all cost regardless of its effect on the population, it’s all about their bottom line.  

 

“All amassing of wealth or hoarding of wealth above and beyond one’s legitimate needs is theft. There would be no occasion for theft and no thieves if there was a wise regulation of wealth and social justice”…Mahatma Gandhi.

 

Juvenile crimes have increased exponentially in recent years; more ladies have taken up prostitution business, unemployment rate has shot up, education is nothing to talk about, there is avoidable environmental degradation and corruption is at its all time high.

This is not doom prophesy rather it is the reality that gazes at our very eyes, it becomes more obvious that the future is bleak for the next generation when the so acclaimed leaders of the present generation apparently bring their greed and ignorance to the fore, without a clue on how to make the world a better place, or maybe they are pessimists.

In developed countries, life trajectories are been designed not to force kids on a recommended path, but to help guide them and give them ideas on how to journey through life successfully, and possibly allow them have initiatives to blaze their own trails with high sense of belonging, hope and faith especially in the future, but Nigerian youths having been made aware of current happenings internationally. 

They do not have a choice but to constantly criticize an unresponsive government, tasking them on the way forward to celebrate and enrich the remaining lives. As it obviously is, it is like the government is trading the lives of the citizenry for mere bottom line which will eventually be embezzled, and we have devised a constructive approach to deal with it.

 

Thank you.

Akin Abimbola. (akinzogee@gmail.com)

 

SOURCES: Google

                   Brainy Quotes

                   Disasterium

                   Investopedia

                   Huffington Post

 

LEAVE GOD ALONE?

“Human beings should be held accountable. Leave God alone. He has enough problems.”…Elie Wiesel.

 

The Basics.

Hopefully it is safe for an adult to admit his or her jealousy of the lives of little kids, especially those whose parents know their value and make sacrifices to take good care of. There is this carefree, worriless and peaceful way about how they do, their innocence makes them unbelievably unaware of any harm that may be lurking around the corner, and their dreams soars higher than the heights eagles can attain.

Growing up then exposes them to realities that could streamline or crush their optimism and their fantasy world of unlimited possibilities, depending on the degree of their enthusiasm and the amount of information they have and that has grown within them in proportion to their faith and conviction.

The inability of most people to cross the line of success naturally makes them defensive, looking for alibis, excuses and possibly someone to pass the blame like a flaming torch or a lousy baton of a team that already lost a relay race.

“The welfare of people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants”…Albert Camus.

 

Seriously?

A school of thought authoritatively believes that there is a very high tendency that God is impressed with the world so far, concerning the initiative man has taken to improve it, making it more habitable. Although the inventions and the discoveries that has further fostered developments are as a result of divine inspiration and intervention.

Well, not surprisingly, another school of thought tells us that God is very displeased with how the existence of man has intensely negatively impacted the Earth, from sin to environmental degradation, Terrorism and most of all unremorseful blasphemy.

Evidently of course life is as mysterious as they come, just for the sake of the proof of logic and higher knowledge have scientists virtually succeeded in coining a name and definition for every possible thing, scenario and occurrence that consistently riddles the world through and through. Only inquisitive people however have the capacity to exhaust their hypothetical justifications to the point where they reluctantly admit the vagueness they perceive of their findings and ultimately the future.

 

Principles.

After carefully researching and utilizing the guiding principles such as gravity, leverage and human attitudes that govern the Earth, we eventually blame God when things do not pan out as we anticipated in the first place. For instance, when natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones and tsunamis occur different classes of people appear to the thought fore like agents of criticisms of varying dimensions. A group will start to pray, well it is a colossal occurrence for us to have it inculcated in us to be well aware that there exists a higher being we are answerable to, another faction does a research to diagnose or and perhaps justifies the happening, and naturally there always exist a group that criticizes and even condemn the act which they never had any control over.

 

“It was the experience of mystery-even if mixed with fear that engendered religion”…Albert Einstein.

The Reality.

It is definitely obscure and also very controversial to call natural disasters an act of God, but scientists have an explanation for them as usual. For example, Earthquakes are caused by faulting, a sudden lateral or vertical movement of rock along a rupture (break) surface. Volcanoes are caused when the upper mantle of the Earth or lower crust melts magma forms; a volcano is essentially a vent through which this magma and dissolved gasses it contains are discharged. So this further keeps us asking funny questions like, can we blame God for a very sunny day which becomes too bright that it burns our eyes, or for the rain that falls so hard and floods unleash?

It is then so crucial for us to gladly adopt optimism in embracing the world as it comes or as it is. Defying gravity by inventing the Airplane, processing our foods to stay healthy, training doctors to save our lives, making shoes to protect our feet and so on. About the sun, some innovative people use its source for solar power, the water from the heavy rainfall is channeled to the right place to further hydro-power, and we can reduce the flood effect by making standard drainages.

The world is a great place due to the efforts of our forefathers, and yet it is about to be a lot better due to our new findings, so in the wake of new realities however, it appears to be imperative that we leave God alone and face the truth before our own very eyes.

 

Thank you very much,

Akin Abimbola (akinzogee@gmail.com)

 

SOURCES:   Google

                     Goodreads

                     Scientific American

                     Brainy Quotes

                     Ask an Earth Scientist